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105-572: The system started out Gary & Interurban Railway Company, a subsidiary of the Chicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad . Founded in 1908, it operated streetcars and interurban trains throughout Gary and its neighboring suburbs and cities. In 1923, the company was acquired by Samuel Insull 's Midland Utilities. By that point, Insull held a virtual monopoly over electrically powered public transit throughout northern Illinois, north Indiana and southwest Wisconsin. However, when Insull's fortunes fell in

210-548: A railroad signalling block system . In July 1906, he took out advertisements in Chicago newspapers for the Chicago–New York Electric Air Line Railroad Company, offering 20,000 $ 100 shares in this firm (the unit shares were later reduced to $ 25). The company avoided raising funds through bonds or the money market , and relied entirely on selling shares. This was important later -there was to be no need to pay interest on capital. The form of

315-642: A bridge crossing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line to Goodrum on 17 February 1912. The GSB&C was then given an east-to-north curve to connect to the new Valparaiso to Chesterton through line at Goodrum, while excavation continued to the west to the fourth railroad bridge which was to be over the B&;O at a very skew angle. By 1911, it was obvious that the future of the GSB&;C Air Line railway could only be secured by providing an immediate connection with

420-408: A carbody design that would reduce wind resistance at high speeds. A long series of tests was carried. In 1905, St. Louis Car Company built a railcar for the traction magnate Henry E. Huntington , capable of speeds approaching 160 km/h (100 mph). Once it ran 32 km (20 mi) between Los Angeles and Long Beach in 15 minutes, an average speed of 130 km/h (80 mph). However, it

525-804: A controlling interest had been acquired, the Cary and Interurban Railroad Company was incorporated on 28 January 1913. This consolidated the GSB&C, the Gary and Interurban Railway , the East Chicago Street Railway , the Gary Connecting Railways and the Valparaiso and Northern Railway . The Chicago–New York Electric Air Line Railroad Company was wound up, and the Air Line News abruptly ceased publication. This

630-578: A high-speed railway network in Russian gauge . There are no narrow gauge high-speed railways. Countries whose legacy network is entirely or mostly of a different gauge than 1435mm – including Japan and Spain – have however often opted to build their high speed lines to standard gauge instead of the legacy railway gauge. High-speed rail is the fastest and most efficient ground-based method of commercial transportation. However, due to requirements for large track curves, gentle gradients and grade separated track

735-486: A little shuttle service from 5th & Broadway to Tube Works. The last streetcar in Gary ran on 28 February 1948. The Air Line system before 1917 consisted of a main line from 11th and Broadway in Gary to La Porte, with two branches to Chesterton and Valparaiso. The Continuation line ran south-east along Central Avenue through Kimmel and Pine Street to East Gary, which it entered on Fairview Avenue. From Garyton, it took

840-559: A loop but with a reversing wye on Lincoln. High-speed rail High-speed rail ( HSR ) is a type of rail transport network utilizing trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks . While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines built to handle speeds above 250 km/h (155 mph) or upgraded lines in excess of 200 km/h (125 mph) are widely considered to be high-speed. The first high-speed rail system,

945-565: A loop installed when the Valparaiso line closed in 1938, and the half mile of track before this was the very last section of the authorised route of the Air Line scheme to have a rail service. The final end of the Air Line saga came on 22 October 1942, when the last Garyton car returned to Gary in the evening. The outbreak of war saved the remaining lines for a time. The Hammond and Broadway lines were converted to buses in 1946, leaving

1050-546: A new top speed for a regular service, with a top speed of 160 km/h (99 mph). This train was a streamlined multi-powered unit, albeit diesel, and used Jakobs bogies . Following the success of the Hamburg line, the steam-powered Henschel-Wegmann Train was developed and introduced in June 1936 for service from Berlin to Dresden , with a regular top speed of 160 km/h (99 mph). Incidentally no train service since

1155-409: A post-industrial slum.) The line was completed to Woodville on 14 August 1912, and made a triangular wye junction with the Valparaiso and Northern Railway at a spot called Woodville Junction , just south of the latter's bridge over the B&O railroad and on the other side of the latter from Goodrum. An important aspect of this connecting line was, that the route ran along the authorised route of

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1260-663: A private railcar at an average speed at 80 miles per hour (130 km/h) was higher than for the projected Air Line trains. Alexander C. Miller (1852–1918) had been the chief dispatcher of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad before founding the Aurora Trust and Savings Bank in his home town of Aurora, Illinois (served by the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railway) and establishing the Miller Train Control Corporation to market his invention of

1365-555: A some other interurban rail cars reached about 145 km/h (90 mph) in commercial traffic. The Red Devils weighed only 22 tons though they could seat 44 passengers. Extensive wind tunnel research – the first in the railway industry – was done before J. G. Brill in 1931 built the Bullet cars for Philadelphia and Western Railroad (P&W). They were capable of running at 148 km/h (92 mph). Some of them were almost 60 years in service. P&W's Norristown High Speed Line

1470-404: A terminus loop on Calumet-State-Hohman. This opened on 8 February 1910. Unfortunately, as part of its franchise the streetcar company agreed with the city to limit fares within city limits to three cents for any ride, or ten for a quarter (25 cents). No provision was made for inflation . Meanwhile, on 25 August 1908 the GSB&C incorporated an independent but wholly owned subsidiary company,

1575-468: A terminus on Watling Street. This opened on 15 February 1913. Shareholders of the Air Line Company rebelled in 1911, and began a movement to purchase the Gary and Interurban Railway streetcar system in order to safeguard even a small part of their investment. This was successful, but the stock of the latter company was purchased with funds raised by the sale of 4% fixed interest bonds. When

1680-569: A world record for narrow gauge trains at 145 km/h (90 mph), giving the Odakyu engineers confidence they could safely and reliably build even faster trains at standard gauge. Conventional Japanese railways up until that point had largely been built in the 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) Cape gauge , however widening the tracks to standard gauge ( 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in )) would make very high-speed rail much simpler due to improved stability of

1785-476: Is a set of unique features, not merely a train travelling above a particular speed. Many conventionally hauled trains are able to reach 200 km/h (124 mph) in commercial service but are not considered to be high-speed trains. These include the French SNCF Intercités and German DB IC . The criterion of 200 km/h (124 mph) is selected for several reasons; above this speed,

1890-612: Is available for disabled citizens. GPTC defines local routes as those bus lines completely within the corporate boundaries of the City of Gary. Many of these services follow routes that were formerly served by streetcar lines when transit was first established in the Gary area. When the Gary Public Transportation Corporation was created, service outside of the Gary city limits was suspended. In 1992, GPTC returned regional service to Northwest Indiana with

1995-539: Is still in use, almost 110 years after P&W in 1907 opened their double-track Upper Darby–Strafford line without a single grade crossing with roads or other railways. The entire line was governed by an absolute block signal system. On 15 May 1933, the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft company introduced the diesel-powered " Fliegender Hamburger " in regular service between Hamburg and Berlin (286 km or 178 mi), thereby achieving

2100-619: The Chicago-New York Electric Air Line Railroad project to reduce the running time between the two big cities to ten hours by using electric 160 km/h (99 mph) locomotives. After seven years of effort, however, less than 50 km (31 mi) of arrow-straight track was finished. A part of the line is still used as one of the last interurbans in the US. In the US, some of the interurbans (i.e. trams or streetcars which run from city to city) of

2205-553: The 0 Series Shinkansen , built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries  – in English often called "Bullet Trains", after the original Japanese name Dangan Ressha ( 弾丸列車 )  – outclassed the earlier fast trains in commercial service. They traversed the 515 km (320 mi) distance in 3 hours 10 minutes, reaching a top speed of 210 km/h (130 mph) and sustaining an average speed of 162.8 km/h (101.2 mph) with stops at Nagoya and Kyoto. Speed

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2310-681: The Aérotrain , a French hovercraft monorail train prototype, reached 200 km/h (120 mph) within days of operation. After the successful introduction of the Japanese Shinkansen in 1964, at 210 km/h (130 mph), the German demonstrations up to 200 km/h (120 mph) in 1965, and the proof-of-concept jet-powered Aérotrain , SNCF ran its fastest trains at 160 km/h (99 mph). In 1966, French Infrastructure Minister Edgard Pisani consulted engineers and gave

2415-865: The Gary Street Railway in 1917, and continued to expand. in 1918 the line to the Sheet Mill and Tin Mill of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company was opened from 5th Avenue & Buchanan Street. In 1924, a line was opened to the National Tube Company plant via 5th Avenue, Virginia Street and 2nd Avenue. Later in the same year, the 5th Avenue portion of this was extended as another new line, to Lake Street in Miller. On

2520-590: The Marienfelde – Zossen line during 1902 and 1903 (see Experimental three-phase railcar ). On 23 October 1903, the S&;H-equipped railcar achieved a speed of 206.7 km/h (128.4 mph) and on 27 October the AEG-equipped railcar achieved 210.2 km/h (130.6 mph). These trains demonstrated the feasibility of electric high-speed rail; however, regularly scheduled electric high-speed rail travel

2625-647: The Morning Hiawatha service, hauled at 160 km/h (99 mph) by steam locomotives. In 1939, the largest railroad of the world, the Pennsylvania Railroad introduced a duplex steam engine Class S1 , which was designed to be capable of hauling 1200 tons passenger trains at 161 km/h (100 mph). The S1 engine was assigned to power the popular all-coach overnight premier train the Trail Blazer between New York and Chicago since

2730-487: The New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad . The promoters' vision proved wildly optimistic and, in the end, only a short interurban route in the vicinity of Gary, Indiana was built and operated. It was the most ambitious of several such proposals at the dawn of electric railroading, all of which ended in failure. The trade magazine Railway Age critiqued the project at the time it

2835-436: The New York Central Railroad 's 20th Century Limited and the Pennsylvania Railroad 's Pennsylvania Special (forerunner of the more famous Broadway Limited ), each required twenty hours to make the journey. Part of the proposal was that the main line would avoid towns and cities on the way, but that these would be provided with feeder spurs or branches. Mentioned were Toledo , Cleveland and Pittsburgh (although

2940-532: The Niles Car and Manufacturing Company . As a publicity stunt, their paintwork included destination names reading New York at one end and Chicago at the other. Down each side was Chicago Air Line New York . The car barn built at South La Porte had a fascia reading Chicago New York Air Line , and Air Line was to be the name used for the passenger service of the CSB&;C throughout its history. Meanwhile,

3045-552: The Pere Marquette Railway , Monon Railroad and the Wabash Railroad . Each of these was provided with a heavy girder bridge, approached by immense fills to keep the gradients down. The fill material came from two deep cuts on the route. The track was built to steam-road standards, allegedly with 85 pound (38.5 kg) rail and white oak ties -in fact, 60 pound (27 kg) rails were used. Every sixth tie

3150-545: The Prussian state railway joined with ten electrical and engineering firms and electrified 72 km (45 mi) of military owned railway between Marienfelde and Zossen . The line used three-phase current at 10 kilovolts and 45 Hz . The Van der Zypen & Charlier company of Deutz, Cologne built two railcars, one fitted with electrical equipment from Siemens-Halske , the second with equipment from Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG), that were tested on

3255-729: The Tōkaidō Shinkansen , began operations in Honshu , Japan, in 1964. Due to the streamlined spitzer -shaped nose cone of the trains , the system also became known by its English nickname bullet train . Japan's example was followed by several European countries, initially in Italy with the Direttissima line, followed shortly thereafter by France , Germany , and Spain . Today, much of Europe has an extensive network with numerous international connections. More recent construction since

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3360-532: The United Kingdom , the United States , and Uzbekistan . Only in continental Europe and Asia does high-speed rail cross international borders. High-speed trains mostly operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated rights of way with large radii . However, certain regions with wider legacy railways , including Russia and Uzbekistan, have sought to develop

3465-427: The Valparaiso and Northern Railway , to build two feeder branches connecting to the main line at Goodrum and serving Valparaiso to the south and Chesterton to the north. Again construction work dragged on, for the lines opened from Valparaiso to the popular recreational destination of Flint Lake on 4 July 1910, Chesterton to Goodrum on 18 February 1911, Flint Lake to Woodville on 7 October 1911 and from Woodville over

3570-474: The World Bank , whilst supporting the project, considered the design of the equipment as unproven for that speed, and set the maximum speed to 210 km/h (130 mph). After initial feasibility tests, the plan was fast-tracked and construction of the first section of the line started on 20 April 1959. In 1963, on the new track, test runs hit a top speed of 256 km/h (159 mph). Five years after

3675-573: The 21st century has led to China taking a leading role in high-speed rail. As of 2023 , China's HSR network accounted for over two-thirds of the world's total. In addition to these, many other countries have developed high-speed rail infrastructure to connect major cities, including: Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , Greece , Indonesia , Morocco , the Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Portugal , Russia , Saudi Arabia , Serbia , South Korea , Sweden , Switzerland , Taiwan , Turkey ,

3780-493: The Broadway Metro Express. Chicago %E2%80%93 New York Electric Air Line Railroad The Chicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad (CNY) was a proposed high-speed electric air-line railroad between Chicago and New York City in the early 20th century. At roughly 750 miles (1,210 km) it would have been over 150 miles (240 km) shorter than the two primary steam railroads on that route,

3885-642: The French National Railway started to receive their new powerful CC 7100 electric locomotives, and began to study and evaluate running at higher speeds. In 1954, the CC 7121 hauling a full train achieved a record 243 km/h (151 mph) during a test on standard track. The next year, two specially tuned electric locomotives, the CC 7107 and the prototype BB 9004, broke previous speed records, reaching respectively 320 km/h (200 mph) and 331 km/h (206 mph), again on standard track. For

3990-565: The French National Railways twelve months to raise speeds to 200 km/h (120 mph). The classic line Paris– Toulouse was chosen, and fitted, to support 200 km/h (120 mph) rather than 140 km/h (87 mph). Some improvements were set, notably the signals system, development of on board "in-cab" signalling system, and curve revision. The next year, in May 1967, a regular service at 200 km/h (120 mph)

4095-466: The GSB&C engineered a monstrous fill across the little creek's valley, 180 feet (55 metres) wide and two miles (3 km) long and containing a steel trestle for stability. The extent of this work meant that the line only opened to Goodrum on 1 November 1911. The immense expense occasioned by this engineering work, and some alleged (but never prosecuted or substantiated) accounting irregularities as well as other putatively fraudulent practices, led to

4200-478: The GSB&C. Also added was a spur along Bridge Street in Gary to the gates of the American Bridge Company plant. The city of Gary had two other interurban lines, not part of the Air Line system but having trackage on it to access the downtown interurban station at 11th & Broadway and also to run on to the gates of the steelworks at the north end of Broadway. The first to open, in 1912,

4305-606: The US, 160 km/h (99 mph) in Germany and 125 mph (201 km/h) in Britain. Above those speeds positive train control or the European Train Control System becomes necessary or legally mandatory. National domestic standards may vary from the international ones. Railways were the first form of rapid land transportation and had an effective monopoly on long-distance passenger traffic until

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4410-607: The authorised course of the original Air Line scheme through Garyton, Crisman, McCool and Babcock before following the B&O railroad through Eastman to Woodville Junction where the Valparaiso branch met in a triangular wye. The line turned north as the Valparaiso Northern , and continued as the branch to Chesterton. This was a short distance, with no intermediate stops. The Valparaiso line had three intermediate stops at Wahob, Burlington Beach (for Flint Lake) and Vale Park. It terminated at Lincoln & Franklin without

4515-579: The beginning of the construction work, in October 1964, just in time for the Olympic Games , the first modern high-speed rail, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen , was opened between the two cities; a 510 km (320 mi) line between Tokyo and Ōsaka. As a result of its speeds, the Shinkansen earned international publicity and praise, and it was dubbed the "bullet train." The first Shinkansen trains,

4620-586: The branch to the last named would have been lengthy). The Air Line Company was set up to be a holding company , with the actual construction done by a series of local firms established under state laws. The first, and only, one of these was incorporated under the state laws of Indiana on 16 April 1904 and was the Goshen, South Bend and Chicago Railroad (GSB&C). It contracted the Co-operative Construction Company (formed for

4725-864: The budget shortfall. GPTC primarily serves Gary, with most routes radiating from the Gary Metro Center. GPTC also has express service to locations in Hammond , East Chicago and Merrillville , and its service area includes Crown Point and Hobart as well. Gary Metro Center serves as the system's primary hub - it also doubles as a South Shore Line station , connecting riders to destinations in Chicago and Northern Indiana . Route 13 provides service to Miller South Shore Line station. Route 12 connects to Pace bus routes at Dan Rabin Transit Center. It also connects to several East Chicago Transit routes at Indianapolis Boulevard. Curb to curb pickup

4830-443: The cancelation of this express train in 1939 has traveled between the two cities in a faster time as of 2018 . In August 2019, the travel time between Dresden-Neustadt and Berlin-Südkreuz was 102 minutes. See Berlin–Dresden railway . Further development allowed the usage of these "Fliegenden Züge" (flying trains) on a rail network across Germany. The "Diesel-Schnelltriebwagen-Netz" (diesel high-speed-vehicle network) had been in

4935-485: The city limits at the Little Calumet River bridge, and two crosstown routes ran west of this to the city limits—one on 5th Avenue and the other on 11th Avenue (10th Avenue from Broadway to the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge). The first major extension of the system was to Hammond to the west, when the 11th Avenue line was extended via Clark Road, 9th Avenue, Summer (now 165th) Street and Sibley Street to

5040-417: The city to allow fare rises for journeys in Gary led to a shortfall in income which caused the Gary and Interurban Railway company to default on a bond issue repayment at the start of 1915. As a result, a receiver was appointed on 17 October 1915. On 1 January 1916, one of the original cars and the GSB&C's work motor met in a head-on collision in fog at Brooks just west of Air Line Park. The passenger car

5145-562: The construction of high-speed rail is more costly than conventional rail and therefore does not always present an economical advantage over conventional speed rail. Multiple definitions for high-speed rail are in use worldwide. The European Union Directive 96/48/EC, Annex 1 (see also Trans-European high-speed rail network ) defines high-speed rail in terms of: The International Union of Railways (UIC) identifies three categories of high-speed rail: A third definition of high-speed and very high-speed rail requires simultaneous fulfilment of

5250-471: The creation of the Tri-City Connection. By 2005, GPTC served five other communities with three regional routes, providing transit to Crown Point, East Chicago, Hammond, Hobart and Merrillville. In 2008, GPTC formed a partnership with Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority to increase service on these regional routes, reducing headways on the routes in question. When the partnership ended in

5355-464: The curve radius should be quadrupled; the same was true for the acceleration and braking distances. In 1891 engineer Károly Zipernowsky proposed a high-speed line from Vienna to Budapest for electric railcars at 250 km/h (160 mph). In 1893 Wellington Adams proposed an air-line from Chicago to St. Louis of 252 miles (406 km), at a speed of only 160 km/h (99 mph). Alexander C. Miller had greater ambitions. In 1906, he launched

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5460-603: The deputy director Marcel Tessier at the DETE ( SNCF Electric traction study department). JNR engineers returned to Japan with a number of ideas and technologies they would use on their future trains, including alternating current for rail traction, and international standard gauge. In 1957, the engineers at the private Odakyu Electric Railway in Greater Tokyo Area launched the Odakyu 3000 series SE EMU. This EMU set

5565-508: The development of the motor car and airliners in the early-mid 20th century. Speed had always been an important factor for railroads and they constantly tried to achieve higher speeds and decrease journey times. Rail transportation in the late 19th century was not much slower than non-high-speed trains today, and many railroads regularly operated relatively fast express trains which averaged speeds of around 100 km/h (62 mph). High-speed rail development began in Germany in 1899 when

5670-595: The early 20th century were very high-speed for their time (also Europe had and still does have some interurbans). Several high-speed rail technologies have their origin in the interurban field. In 1903 – 30 years before the conventional railways started to streamline their trains – the officials of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition organised the Electric Railway Test Commission to conduct a series of tests to develop

5775-521: The failure of the main line to extend beyond a dozen and a half miles through the Indiana countryside. The GSB&C only ever ran a total of 21-mile (34 km) on its own tracks, according to its official reports. The GSB&C Air Line railway company quickly morphed into an electric railway system serving the new city of Gary , and this process was underway even before the Coffee Creek fill

5880-543: The financial problems arising. The main line was opened to Westville Road (Route 421), just east of the Monon Railroad bridge, in June 1908. To generate some revenue, an amusement park called "Air Line Park" was set up west of the Pere Marquette Railroad bridge. This proved very successful, and thousands visited on weekends when a ten-cent shuttle service from La Porte was provided. This was to be

5985-438: The first time, 300 km/h (185 mph) was surpassed, allowing the idea of higher-speed services to be developed and further engineering studies commenced. Especially, during the 1955 records, a dangerous hunting oscillation , the swaying of the bogies which leads to dynamic instability and potential derailment was discovered. This problem was solved by yaw dampers which enabled safe running at high speeds today. Research

6090-575: The following two conditions: The UIC prefers to use "definitions" (plural) because they consider that there is no single standard definition of high-speed rail, nor even standard usage of the terms ("high speed", or "very high speed"). They make use of the European EC Directive 96/48, stating that high speed is a combination of all the elements which constitute the system: infrastructure, rolling stock and operating conditions. The International Union of Railways states that high-speed rail

6195-524: The funding it provided over the past few years unless the agency signs a memorandum of understanding that signified its willingness to consolidate its operations under Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority . GTPC officials voted against the move in July 2010. The agency was unable to fill the funding gap, forcing it to cut routes and decrease service frequencies. The agency is currently contemplating increasing fares and eliminating Saturday service to make up for

6300-414: The impacts of geometric defects are intensified, track adhesion is decreased, aerodynamic resistance is greatly increased, pressure fluctuations within tunnels cause passenger discomfort, and it becomes difficult for drivers to identify trackside signalling. Standard signaling equipment is often limited to speeds below 200 km/h (124 mph), with the traditional limits of 127 km/h (79 mph) in

6405-461: The initial ones despite greater speeds). After decades of research and successful testing on a 43 km (27 mi) test track, in 2014 JR Central began constructing a Maglev Shinkansen line, which is known as the Chūō Shinkansen . These Maglev trains still have the traditional underlying tracks and the cars have wheels. This serves a practical purpose at stations and a safety purpose out on

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6510-512: The junction with the main line and the operating headquarters were to be. Miller cut the first sod there with a silver spade, and there was much junketing. However, serious work only began in the New Year. The 3.5 miles (5.6 km) branch took until 15 June 1907 to finish and open, and this slow progress was the first sign of problems. For the opening, the CSB&C bought two standard wooden combine interurban electric passenger cars from

6615-542: The late 1940s and it consistently reached 161 km/h (100 mph) in its service life. These were the last "high-speed" trains to use steam power. In 1936, the Twin Cities Zephyr entered service, from Chicago to Minneapolis, with an average speed of 101 km/h (63 mph). Many of these streamliners posted travel times comparable to or even better than their modern Amtrak successors, which are limited to 127 km/h (79 mph) top speed on most of

6720-432: The lines in the event of a power failure. However, in normal operation, the wheels are raised up into the car as the train reaches certain speeds where the magnetic levitation effect takes over. It will link Tokyo and Osaka by 2037, with the section from Tokyo to Nagoya expected to be operational by 2027. Maximum speed is anticipated at 505 km/h (314 mph). The first generation train can be ridden by tourists visiting

6825-486: The name - Chicago before New York - demonstrated the focus of the initial advertising campaign. The proposed physical characteristics of the project were impressive, and far ahead of contemporary practice: Quadruple track (later reduced to double) on a hundred-foot-wide (30 metre) right of way, grades not exceeding 1%, no grade crossings , and a straight-line route which, at 742 miles (1,194 km), would be 150 miles (240 km) shorter than other routes. Further, it

6930-505: The network. The German high-speed service was followed in Italy in 1938 with an electric-multiple-unit ETR 200 , designed for 200 km/h (120 mph), between Bologna and Naples. It too reached 160 km/h (99 mph) in commercial service, and achieved a world mean speed record of 203 km/h (126 mph) between Florence and Milan in 1938. In Great Britain in the same year, the streamlined steam locomotive Mallard achieved

7035-469: The official world speed record for steam locomotives at 202.58 km/h (125.88 mph). The external combustion engines and boilers on steam locomotives were large, heavy and time and labor-intensive to maintain, and the days of steam for high speed were numbered. In 1945, a Spanish engineer, Alejandro Goicoechea , developed a streamlined, articulated train that was able to run on existing tracks at higher speeds than contemporary passenger trains. This

7140-464: The only public service on the main line for the next three years, running from La Porte to Westville Road and back. The eventual downfall of the Air Line scheme arose as a result of the capital expended on crossing Coffee Creek , a minor watercourse running west of the Wabash Railroad bridge. To keep to the advertised grade prescribed by the incredibly stringent engineering specifications,

7245-402: The original Air Line scheme from East Gary until it met the B&O railroad at a location called Babcock. It then hugged the south side of the railroad until it reached Woodville Junction. The direct skew bridge under construction over the railroad at Babcock was abandoned. This was the definitive indication that the dream of a Chicago to New York express line was finally dead. Also important

7350-551: The other hand, the Indiana Harbor to Hammond line was abandoned as unprofitable and this was the first contraction. The lines from Gary to Valparaiso and Chesterton went to the Gary and Valparaiso Railway , which hence inherited what was left of the Air Line system. The Chesterton line was replaced by a bus in 1922. In 1925, there was a major consolidation of Gary's railways under the Gary Railways company which

7455-608: The planning since 1934 but it never reached its envisaged size. All high-speed service stopped in August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of World War II . On 26 May 1934, one year after Fliegender Hamburger introduction, the Burlington Railroad set an average speed record on long distance with their new streamlined train, the Zephyr , at 124 km/h (77 mph) with peaks at 185 km/h (115 mph). The Zephyr

7560-504: The promoters had begun the publication of a monthly periodical boosting the scheme, the Air Line News , in October 1906. This dramatized every development in the construction work, for example: "A huge Vulcan steam shovel is already on the job, taking big bites out of hills that stand in the path of the straight and level speedway that is to be the Air Line". The editor was Charles Burton, a veteran Indiana journalist and former printer of

7665-400: The purpose by one of the promoters named Jonathon D. Price) to begin work, and obtained the necessary land by having another promoter, Colonel Upshaw P. Hord, persuade local farmers to exchange land in return for shares. Construction began ceremonially on 1 September 1906 at La Porte, Indiana , on the first of the feeder branches from downtown to a rural location dubbed South La Porte where

7770-577: The same time. In 1903 an interurban on the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railway covered the 35 miles (56 km) between Aurora and Chicago in 34 minutes 39 seconds despite the loss of over 6 minutes in stops, and numerous speed reductions for steam railroads, trolley lines (tramways), and street and highway crossings. In 1905 Pacific Electric mogul Henry E. Huntington made the Los Angeles–Long Beach run (20 miles (32 km)) in 15 minutes in

7875-480: The same year, the GSB&C decided to shut its power plant at South La Porte and purchase electricity from a public source as this was cheaper. The last initiative of the GSB&C was the promotion of a streetcar company called the East Chicago Street Railway to serve Indiana Harbor . This subsidiary was incorporated on 23 July 1912, and opened from the end of the 5th Avenue line at Gary's city limits via Cline Avenue, 145th Street, Cedar Street and Guthrie Street to

7980-500: The state's official publications. The project was trumpeted nationally, stock sold with great rapidity and, by the end of the year, the company had 15 000 shareholders and funds of $ 2 000 000. The section of the main line that was actually built, 17.5 miles (28.2 km), ran from South La Porte westwards to a location north of Woodville named Goodrum after George C. Goodrum, a major shareholder from Fall River, Massachusetts . There were three railroad crossings in this distance, over

8085-417: The streetcar company founded on 18 July 1907, the Gary and Interurban Railway . There was no initial official connection with the GSB&C, but the Co-operative Construction Company building the latter's main line was also responsible for its construction. The system opened on 20 May 1908, and by year's end had a spine route north to south on Broadway. This ran from the steelworks main gate at 4th Avenue to

8190-534: The streetcar network of Gary. So, on 1 June 1911 a company entitled the Gary Connecting Railways was incorporated as the second wholly owned subsidiary of the GSB&C. It immediately began construction of a connecting line, beginning at Broadway & 11th Avenue, downtown at Gary, and running down Central Avenue to East Gary. This was opened on 6 January 1912. (East Gary used to be called Lake Station , but changed its name to East Gary in 1908. It changed its name back to Lake Station in 1977, owing to Gary having become

8295-407: The summer of 2010, GPTC to cut down non-rush-hour service back to previous levels. GPTC is currently in the process of applying for another grant to restore the service. In February 2010, GPTC created a fourth regional route, University Park. Routes 12 and 17 only stop at specifically designated stops and have higher-than-standard fares. This service has since been replaced by their rapid bus service,

8400-535: The test track. China is developing two separate high-speed maglev systems. In Europe, high-speed rail began during the International Transport Fair in Munich in June 1965, when Dr Öpfering, the director of Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railways), performed 347 demonstrations at 200 km/h (120 mph) between Munich and Augsburg by DB Class 103 hauled trains. The same year

8505-503: The wake of the Great Depression, Gary Railways Company was sold off to Chicago & Calumet District Transit Company, which made it a subsidiary. During the 1940s, the streetcar service was gradually replaced with buses. In 1956, the city and interurban buses were split into Gary Transit Inc. and Gary Intercity Lines Inc, respectively. While Gary Intercity Lines ended its services in 1971, Gary Transit lasted until 1975, when it

8610-540: The wider rail gauge, and thus standard gauge was adopted for high-speed service. With the sole exceptions of Russia, Finland, and Uzbekistan all high-speed rail lines in the world are still standard gauge, even in countries where the preferred gauge for legacy lines is different. The new service, named Shinkansen (meaning new main line ) would provide a new alignment, 25% wider standard gauge utilising continuously welded rails between Tokyo and Osaka with new rolling stock, designed for 250 km/h (160 mph). However,

8715-629: The world's population, without a single train passenger fatality. (Suicides, passengers falling off the platforms, and industrial accidents have resulted in fatalities.) Since their introduction, Japan's Shinkansen systems have been undergoing constant improvement, not only increasing line speeds. Over a dozen train models have been produced, addressing diverse issues such as tunnel boom noise, vibration, aerodynamic drag , lines with lower patronage ("Mini shinkansen"), earthquake and typhoon safety, braking distance , problems due to snow, and energy consumption (newer trains are twice as energy-efficient as

8820-470: Was achieved by providing the locomotive and cars with a unique axle system that used one axle set per car end, connected by a Y-bar coupler. Amongst other advantages, the centre of mass was only half as high as usual. This system became famous under the name of Talgo ( Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol ), and for half a century was the main Spanish provider of high-speed trains. In the early 1950s,

8925-530: Was also made about "current harnessing" at high-speed by the pantographs, which was solved 20 years later by the Zébulon TGV 's prototype. With some 45 million people living in the densely populated Tokyo– Osaka corridor, congestion on road and rail became a serious problem after World War II , and the Japanese government began thinking about ways to transport people in and between cities. Because Japan

9030-467: Was an upset price , meaning that it was the minimum acceptable according to a true valuation. Since the company was a statutory public service, for the next 24 days a shuttle was run from La Porte to Goodrum. After the required legal formalities, service on the Air Line railway ceased on 3 November 1917, and the tracks and bridges east of Goodrum were recovered for scrap. The truncated Air Line system did, however, survive. The streetcar system became

9135-455: Was announced in July 1906 and gave this damning judgment: "Speaking seriously, for the moment, about this fraudulent investment scheme one is in doubt whether to wonder most at the gigantic effrontery of the perpetrators, the gullibility of the poor dupes who will flood the mails with their subscriptions, or the carelessness if not cupidity of the newspaper publishers who seem to sanction the swindle by giving it publicity." The Air Line scheme

9240-676: Was closed, and the Valparaiso service cut back to Garyton on 22 October. This reduced the Air Line system to a stub. In 1939, the Hobart and Indiana Harbor lines went and the Fifth Avenue line cut back to the Pennsylvania Railroad station. Bridge Street and Tin Works were closed in 1940 and the stub on Fifth Avenue in 1941. What was left at the start of 1942 were the Broadway, Hammond, Tube Works and Garyton lines. The last named terminated at

9345-403: Was extended a further 161 km (100 mi), and further construction has resulted in the network expanding to 2,951 km (1,834 mi) of high speed lines as of 2024, with a further 211 km (131 mi) of extensions currently under construction and due to open in 2031. The cumulative patronage on the entire system since 1964 is over 10 billion, the equivalent of approximately 140% of

9450-405: Was extra long to accommodate the future third conducting rail, although a trolley wire was strung to power the cars as a temporary measure . Only a single track was laid, although there was space for a second. Investors were taken out to view these two portions of the line in operation, and the continuing work. However, further progress continued to be slow and the depression of 1907 –1908 worsened

9555-493: Was finished in 1911. Gary came into being when the United States Steel Corporation constructed a new steelworks on a virgin site on Lake Michigan in the spring of 1906, and when the city was platted , three main streets were created wide enough to include reserve track streetcar lines. Hence, the streetcar service could use equipment of interurban standard, and this was reflected in the name of

9660-543: Was made of stainless steel and, like the Fliegender Hamburger, was diesel powered, articulated with Jacobs bogies , and could reach 160 km/h (99 mph) as commercial speed. The new service was inaugurated 11 November 1934, traveling between Kansas City and Lincoln , but at a lower speed than the record, on average speed 74 km/h (46 mph). In 1935, the Milwaukee Road introduced

9765-407: Was not only a part of the Shinkansen revolution: the Shinkansen offered high-speed rail travel to the masses. The first Bullet trains had 12 cars and later versions had up to 16, and double-deck trains further increased the capacity. After three years, more than 100 million passengers had used the trains, and the milestone of the first one billion passengers was reached in 1976. In 1972, the line

9870-521: Was not the first proposed high-speed electric railway in the USA. In 1893 Dr. Wellington Adams promoted a 252-mile (406 km) Chicago – St. Louis route with a maximum operating speed of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). Adams believed the new railroad could be built in a year for $ 5.5 million ($ 187 million adjusted for inflation). Trade publications ridiculed the proposal, and it went nowhere. Elsewhere, global developments in electric railroading

9975-545: Was owned by the Midland Utilities Corporation of Samuel Insull . All the surviving railways were annexed, except the Crown Point line which was bought out in 1928. Conversion of routes to buses began in 1933, with the Crown Point line beyond 45th Avenue. In 1935, the Miller line went and in 1938 the conversion of the whole system was begun. In that year the line between Tin Mill and Sheet Mill

10080-512: Was proceeding apace at the turn of the century. In 1903, a railcar from Siemens & Halske and AEG reached 200 kilometres per hour (120 mph) on the experimental Marienfelde – Zossen military railway outside Berlin . Commercial projects, however, did not progress. Proposed electric railways such as Berlin–Hamburg and Wien–Budapest proved too expensive. Several interurbans in the United States had made fast demonstration runs at

10185-461: Was promised that there would be no curves requiring speeds below 90 miles per hour (140 km/h). Trains would run at an average 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), and complete the journey between Chicago and New York in 10 hours at a flat fare of $ 10. The motive power was to be electric locomotives powered by a third rail -there were no working prototypes of these yet. At the time the two fastest steam-hauled trains between New York and Chicago,

10290-633: Was reorganized into Gary Public Transit Corporation. At that point, Gary Public Transportation Company became the operator of the newly created Hammond Transit System . It was forced to cede the service to Hammond Yellow Coach Lines after a judge determined that the company could not operate a system outside Gary city limits. GPTC limited its operations to Gary until 1990, when it inaugurated new express bus routes that originated in downtown Gary and reached into Hammond, East Chicago, Merrillville and Crown Point. In 2010, Northwest Indiana Public Development Authority announced that it would not provide GTPC any of

10395-525: Was resource limited and did not want to import petroleum for security reasons, energy-efficient high-speed rail was an attractive potential solution. Japanese National Railways (JNR) engineers began to study the development of a high-speed regular mass transit service. In 1955, they were present at the Lille 's Electrotechnology Congress in France, and during a 6-month visit, the head engineer of JNR accompanied

10500-402: Was still more than 30 years away. After the breakthrough of electric railroads, it was clearly the infrastructure – especially the cost of it – which hampered the introduction of high-speed rail. Several disasters happened – derailments, head-on collisions on single-track lines, collisions with road traffic at grade crossings, etc. The physical laws were well-known, i.e. if the speed was doubled,

10605-466: Was telescoped and had to be scrapped, three people were killed and twelve injured. On 18 September 1917 the receiver oversaw the breakup of the G&;I into its constituent parts, and their separate sale. The original Air Line company shareholders were finally wiped out. The GSB&C was capitalised at $ 7 000 000. Its assets, comprising the line, rolling stock and equipment, were sold for $ 75 000. This

10710-503: Was that the line crossed the Michigan Central Railroad at Garyton (now part of Portage ) on the level. A junction curve was put in place for freight exchange, and the GSB&C invested in dedicated equipment in to develop a freight service. The completion of this line also allowed a Hammond to La Porte via Gary passenger service, beginning 5 September 1912. This became known as the Air Line service locally. In

10815-535: Was the Gary and Southern Traction which continued the Broadway streetcar line to Lottaville (now part of Merrillville ) and Crown Point . The other was the Gary and Hobart Traction , which had an abortive opening with a gasoline car later in 1912 but was shut after a month. Electrification and permanent opening was in 1914. The route was along 37th Avenue from the Broadway line, through Froebel and New Chicago to terminate at 3rd and Main in Hobart . The refusal of

10920-417: Was the official abandonment of the great express electric railway scheme. The morph from an express electric railway project into a city streetcar and interurban system was complete, but was only to last intact for just under five years. A loop line was added from Indiana Harbor to Hammond, from 145th & Main, Parish Avenue, Chicago Avenue and Kennedy Avenue -this became important for the freight service of

11025-477: Was too heavy for much of the tracks, so Cincinnati Car Company , J. G. Brill and others pioneered lightweight constructions, use of aluminium alloys, and low-level bogies which could operate smoothly at extremely high speeds on rough interurban tracks. Westinghouse and General Electric designed motors compact enough to be mounted on the bogies. From 1930 on, the Red Devils from Cincinnati Car Company and

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